An anti whaling activist, Peter Bethune from New Zealand is on trial in Japan accused of, among other charges, assault on a Japanese sailor on board the Shonan Maru. Bethune says that he was trying make a citizen's arrest on the captain of the Japanese ship for trying to murder his men earlier. Bethune was captain of a boat, Ady Gil, which was sliced in two by a Japanese harpoon ship while trying to disrupt a hunt in the Antarctic waters. He was detained on board the Shonan Maru and arrested by Japanese coast guards when the ship arrived back to port. If convicted Bethune could receive 15 years in prison. Every year Japanese whalers kill hundreds of whales in the name of ' research '. Whale meat is a delicacy in Japan and the killed whales end up in restaurants as expensive menu. Whales are mammals. Intelligent, social, highly vocal and very large. Killing them is not easy. Harpoons are fired into them and then they are chased as they try to escape. They will be terrified and their deaths will be slow and agonising. What is this ' research ' that starts with killing the animal. This is like the ' medical research ' carried out on Chinese prisoners when China was occupied by Japan a hundred years ago. The Chinese have not forgotten this torture and killing of their people. The Japanese are quick to lecture India against nuclear weapons but seem blind about their own barbaric behavior. Norway is another country which still engages in this barbarous practice and yet will be quick to denounce cruelty to animals. Killing an animal for food may be justified if it is done in a quick and humane manner but torturing an animal for hours is unacceptable.